Historically, both parents have had a legal right to inherit from a child who died without a will, if that child died with no spouse, no registered domestic partner, and no descendants. This has long been the law in California, even in cases where a parent abandoned the child from birth, sometimes resulting in grossly unfair results.

For example, in one California case, a husband abandoned his pregnant wife, stranding her with no means of support in New Mexico. His wife gave birth to their son. The husband never communicated with his son and never provided any support. Yet when the son died 42 years later in California without a will, without a wife or registered domestic partner, and without descendants, the father was entitled to half of his son’s estate (sharing with the mother). (Estate of Shellenbarger (1975) 14 Cal 3^rd 831.)

This grossly unfair result has been changed by new California Probate Code 6452 (a) (3), which prevents a parent from inheriting from a child who dies without a will if:

“The parent left the child during the child’s minority without

an effort to provide for the child’s support or without communication

from the parent, for at least seven consecutive years that continued

until the end of the child’s minority, with the intent on the part

of the parent to abandon the child. The failure to provide support or

to communicate for the prescribed period is presumptive evidence of

an intent to abandon.”

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